LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



* 



1 UNITED STATES OP AMERICA, t 
£ *l 



!Z- 



THE FAITHFUL CHRISTIAN. 



> 



FUIERAL DISCOURSE 



ON THE 



DEATH 



OF 



ROBERT STUART, ESa. 



./-' 



BY TIIE REV. GEORGE DUFFIELD. 



$ 



DETROIT: 

PRINTED BY HARSHA & WILLCOX. 

1849. ; 



I 



THE FAITHFUL CHRISTIAN 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE 

DELIVERED NOVEMBER 12TH, 
ON OCCASION OF THE DEATH 



OF 



ROBERT STUART, ESQUIRE, 

A RULING ELDER IN THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF DETROIT, 

WHO DIED SUDDENLY AT CHICAGO, 
ON THE 29TH OF OCTOBER, 1848. 



BY GEORGE DUFFIELD, \j~ ft 

PASTOR OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH DETROIT. 

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST 



tfYVAS 

DETROIT: 

HAR3HA & WILLCOX, BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS. 


1848. 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE 



Hebrews,, 11, vi. By faith he obtained witness he was righteous, God testi- 
fying of his gifts ; and by it he being dead yet speaketh. 

"What man is he that liveth and shall not see 
death ?" It is the certain doom of all our mortal race. 
That fell and frightful monster sways his blighting 
sceptre o'er all that is lovely and valuable, honorable 
and good. Enthroned by sin, and installed by the 
god of this world as the king of terrors, neither age 
nor sex, youth nor beauty, usefulness nor honor, are 
spared from his malignant stroke. We shrink at the 
thought of his approach ; and shriek in agony as he 
fulfils his stern commission, and lays his icy paralyz- 
ing hand upon our quivering frame. In vain do we 
cry out for help ; or seek to hide from the horrid gaze 
of his livid eye; or attempt to escape from the re- 
lentless grasp of his giant arm. Home with all its 
sweet comforts and delights, friends with all their gay 
cheer, children and family with all their endearments, 
church society and country with all their claims, 
can make no successful appeal to his inexorable 
breast. " Thy days are numbered, thou must sojourn 
among the dead," is all the response he gives to the 
the agonized prayer. Nor will he light up the gloom, 



4 FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

or ease the crushing burden of the thought, that the 
drooping, powerless, departing object of our fond and 
tenderest affections, whom he bears away amid our 
tears and groans and gushing woes, shall e'er revisit 
these mortal scenes to recompense with joy the an- 
guish separation has produced. 

We look with lingering longing gaze, and hearken 
with intensest desire, while we hang around the life- 
less remains of a parent and friend beloved, in hope 
that possibly this may not prove the last farewell, that 
our ears may again be greeted by the gladdening tones 
of the voice we loved to hear. But as we turn away 
from the closed eyes, the pallid cheeks, and sealed 
lips of the dear object of our love, and in our grief 
exclaim, " oh, shall we never, never see that face 
again," there springs up, amid the deep musings of the 
heart, the dread and painful response, 

" We return — we return — we return no more." — 
So breathe sad voices our spirits o'er ; 
Murmuring up from the depths of the heart, 
Where lovely things with their light depart, — 
And the inborn sound hath a prophet's tone, 
And we feel that a joy is for ever gone. 

It would greatly mitigate our sorrow at the death 
of friends, if some intercourse could yet be had with 
their departed spirits, however short or seldom it 
might be. We try to pierce into the depths of infi- 
nite space, or penetrate within the veil that shuts out 
the unseen world from all that strikes the eye or ear ; 
and could we but hear the voice of the dear departed 
to warn, to counsel, or assure us that we were still 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. O 

recognized and our love reciprocated, death would 
lose half its terrors, and the bitterness of sorrow 
cease. In vain does reason, by the light of nature, 
seek and court communion with the dead. No voice 
breaks from the sepulchral vault ; no ray of consola- 
tion sheds serenity upon the tomb. We turn away 
from the charnel house, and strive to decorate the 
grave and cemeteries of the dead, that we may forget 
the bones and ashes and ordure that lie concealed 
beneath the ground. Nature is mute and powerless, 
but Revelation proffers her grateful service ; and 
conducting us through the darkness, beyond the 
precincts of the tomb, bids us behold the happy con- 
scious spirits above that "died in faith" rejoicing in 
the presence of God, at " His right hand where there 
are pleasures for ever more." They do indeed disap- 
pear from earth, but their voice is still heard ; not in 
unearthly tones, but by the faith im which they lived 
and died and ascended to God. 

The death of Abel was the first instance recorded of 
the achievements of the grim tyrant death, in this 
world. Suddenly, by the brutal murderous stroke of 
a vengeful brother, he fell the victim of the grave. 
But the death of his mortal body destroyed not his 
living conscious mind or soul. He had believed God, 
and presenting the sacrificial offering prescribed by 
divine authority, looked, through the typical, to the 
real atonement provided for the sins of men. He 
trusted not in his own virtue, or good deeds ; but in 
the merits and mediation of that great Redeemer, 
whose blood and righteousness alone avail for our 



6 FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

pardon and justification before God. He accepted 
the offer of grace and salvation made to him as guilty 
and condemned, as justly deserving the wrath of God, 
even eternal death, and renounced all thought of 
merit of his own. Before his death he had evidence 
of his acceptance with God, which Paul says every 
truly justified soul has. " Being justified by faith we 
have peace with God," said our Lord Jesus Christ," by 
whom also we have access into this grace wherein we 
stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." 

Faith in the promised sacrifice and Saviour 
formed the essential element of his religion, and that 
faith, which had already justified him, and secured the 
tokens of God's approbation, being recorded for our 
benefit, has continued, from that hour, to proclaim to 
us the riches of divine grace. For aught that we know 
to the contrary, his death was instantaneous ; not a 
word, or sigh, or sign whatever, escaped from him 
that indicated his dying thoughts. But his record 
was on high, and the faith in which he lived and died 
is the voice by which, though dead, he yet speaketh 
By faith, "he obtained witness that he was right- 
eous, God testifying of his gifts ; and by it he being 
dead yet speaketh." 

The modes in which the faith of departed believers 
may yet speak after their death, is the theme we pre- 
sent to your thoughts, beloved hearers. On this sad 
occasion, we shall do it in the special applications 
appropriate. The sudden startling stroke of death, 
which has prostrated a dear friend and brother and 
fellow officer in this church of God, has already spoken* 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 7 

with loud and trumpet tongue, on the ears of this 
community, as the sad communication came with 
lightning celerity from a distant city. His manly 
form, and noble mien, and portly air, we shall behold 
no more. His solemn voice, occasionally in our social 
and religious meetings lifted to warn and to exhort, 
to counsel and instruct, we shall hear no more ! No 
more shall he mingle with us in these hallowed walks 
and scenes I He has finished his course. His earthly 
race is run. 

Nor did it please his covenant God and Saviour to 
allow him opportunity, in his dying moments, to have 
communication even with the partner of his bosom. 
From the midst of highest health, without a moment's 
warmng, by one sad and fatal stroke of death, his 
spmt bade adieu to earth, and returned to God who 
gave it. God has withheld from us the common, 
greatly prized, and cherished consolation of having 
some "last words," or "dying speeches," to embalm 
m our memories, by which more easily and tenderly 
to recall to our thoughts a departed friend, Or assure 
us, either that it was well with him when passing down 
over the river of Jordan, or that he had safely reached 
the heavenly Canaan. But we ueed not seek memo- 
rials from the river's depths. Like Abel his faith had 
embraced an all sufficient sacrifice. His life had 
furnished proof to himself and others, that it had 
availed for his justification before God. He plead 
not his own virtue or righteousness, which were ex- 
emplary and exact ; nor offered the gifts of his charity 
and liberality, which were abundant and persevering ; 



8 FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

nor relied on his prayers or alms, and ritual forms 
and duties which were constant and abiding. These 
were not the ground of his acceptance. 

The grand element of his religion was faith in Je- 
sus Christ. By it he looked for pardon through the 
virtue of His atoning blood. By it he trusted for the 
acceptance of his person with God, through his Re- 
deemer's righteousness ; by it he looked also for the 
acceptance of his works and gifts ; and by it he con- 
fided in Him for the regenerating and sanctifying 
grace of the Spirit, to purify those works and gifts. 
By faith he lived, in the faith of Christ he died, and 
by that faith though dead he yet speaketh. 

He speaks by the principles of the faith he 
professed. They were those of the gospel of Jesus 
Christ. The Bible he received as an authoritative 
revelation of the mind and will of God, and as con- 
taining all that is necessary for us to know, on ques- 
tions of faith and practice. The opinions and reason- 
ings of men, with him, could never outweigh the 
testimony of God. Neither philosophy nor tradition, 
the authority of the church nor the dogmas of the 
schools, the influence of rank and station, nor the 
caprice and rules of fashion, were with him a sufficient 
reason for his belief and conduct unless they were 
supported bv and founded on the oracles of God. Its 
testimony was decisive ; and that had, he consulted 
not expediency, interest, honor or advantage. His 
Bible was his counsellor, " the light to his feet and 
the lamp to his paths." What it taught him concerning 
himself and his duty, he believed and did ; concerning 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. \) 

Jesus Christ and the way of salvation, he received and 
embraced ; nor did he care who censured and opposed 
or condemned when convinced of truth and duty from 
the sacred scriptures. To the humbling doctrines of 
the cross he gave his full and cordial assent, and 
found, in his own experience, continued evidence of 
their truth, confessing and declaring, — that by his sins 
he had forfeited all claims on God and stood justly 
exposed to His awful and eternal wrath and curse ; 
that his heart was naturally averse to God and holi- 
ness, and needed His grace and spirit to renew and 
sanctify it; — that the blood and righteousness of Jesus 
Christ, the eternal and co-equal Son of the Father, 
were the only ground of his hope toward God and 
acceptance with Him ; — that on the gracious promise 
of God alone he rested, pleading no merit or worth, 
no righteousness or virtue of his own as availing for 
his justification, but whatever he had of these, referred 
them to the distinguishing and sovereign grace of that 
God who had made him to differ, by subduing him to 
Himself, and through His love shed abroad in his 
heart, making him not ashamed to confess Christ be- 
fore men, and to give Him the whole glory of his sal- 
vation. He acknowledged and felt his obligations to 
be " perfecting holiness in the fear of God ;" and 
conscientiously aimed and endeavored to do so : not 
as the condition of his justification ; but as the tribute 
of a heart reconciled to God, introduced into the 
glorious liberty of His Son, and as preferring holiness 
and fellowship with Jesus Christ, to sin and the commu- 
nion of the world. His holiness was not that of exter- 
2 



10 FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

nal forms and religious ceremonies ; nor of the ascetic ; 
but the benevolence of a heart that breathed love to 
God and to his fellow men. The doctrines of grace, 
as they are distinctively called, i. e. the statements of 
Revelation concerning the great facts of the fall and 
ruin of our race by the sin of our guilty progenitors, — 
the native and total depravity of the human heart de- 
veloping itself in selfishness until renewed by the 
Spirit of God, — the utter inability of man by any suffer- 
ings or efforts of his own to atone for his sins and to 
justify himself before God, — the necessity of regenera- 
tion and sanctification, not by baptismal washing but 
by the Spirit of God, — the infinite sufficiency of Jesus 
Christ as a Saviour, uniting in one person the divine 
and human natures, and constituted, by divine appoint- 
ment, the only mediator between God and man, and 
the only means and way of a guilty sinner's approach 
to God, — the imperfection and utter insufficiency of all 
the works of human merit, — and the obligations of the 
renewed man, both natural and gracious, to lead a 
life of holy obedience, were embraced by his faith, not 
only as the truths in which he had been educated, but 
as the teachings which he had learned from his own 
prayerful study of the word of God. His faith form- 
ed the vital element of his religion, and having added 
his life as a testimony to their value and efficiency, by 
it though " dead he still speaketh." 

He speaks by his example. It was that of " a con- 
versation according to the gospel." His whole con- 
duct, from the period of his conversion to God, was 
an effort to carry out, in all his relations, the princi- 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 11 

pies of his religious prefession. He loved the gospel 
of the grace of God, and he sought to adorn it by 
the fruits of righteousness. Integrity and truthful- 
ness, in all his transactions with men, he rigidly main- 
tained. He valued sound principle and the approba- 
tion of a good conscience, above the applause of 
men. His morality was modelled upon a lofty stand- 
ard, and was as unimpeachable as it was elevated. 
Nothing dishonorable or low could be alleged against 
him. His soul abhorred every thing like meanness 
and trick He valued truth and right so highly, and 
his sense of honor was so keen and discerning, that 
he could not endure injustice and duplicity. Though 
sometimes brought in collision with his fellow men, 
amid the perplexities of business, and the mutations 
of public affairs, his stoic firmness and resolute de- 
cision, his steady consistency and undeviating hones- 
ty of purpose, secured the respect of those opposed 
to him, and established a reputation deserving the 
universal testimony borne to his worth, and the la- 
mentations so spontaneously and sincerely expressed 
by our entire community. He sought to honor God 
in his conduct ; and God has so honored him, that I 
do but repeat the general acknowledgment, that as a 
citizen, but few are left to occupy the position he 
held, and exert the influence he swayed among us. 
He was one among the few that made his own im- 
pression on others, and left it there. 

In the intercourse of social life he was cheerful and 
generous and kind, and while opposed to every form 
of dissipation, to all the arts and pleas of intemper- 



12 FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

ance and licentiousness, a rigid censurer of the cor- 
rupting influence and pretexts of the fashion of this 
world, and of its vain and sinful amusements, the ball 
room, the theatre, and the promiscuous dance, he 
sought, by admonition and counsel, to win their vo- 
taries to aspire after nobler delights. His house was 
open for the rites of hospitality, and his heart for 
every good word and work. 

In the ecclesiastical bodies, of which he was occa- 
sionally a member, he promptly took his part, and 
shrunk not from responsibility. And his judgment and 
counsels were prized. In his church relations, as a 
Ruling elder, he cheerfully took part with his brethren 
in their care and responsibilities ; and not grudgingly, 
but willingly exercised " oversight over the flock of 
God," anxious that all who " name the name of Jesus " 
might " depart from all iniquity." As a fellow mem- 
ber of the church he was gentle and condescending, 
and ready to sympathise with those, in every grade 
and condition, whose trials and afflictions became 
known to him. He loved the house of God and priz- 
ed the meetings for social prayer. The weekly lec- 
ture for the exposition of the Sacred Scriptures, and 
the prayer meetings, whatever were his business avo- 
cations, he felt it his duty and delight to attend. The 
world was not allowed to engross his time and 
thoughts, nor shut God out of his soul and keep him 
from cherishing the communion of His Saints. His 
presence and his voice often served to cheer the hearts 
of those, who will not allow, the seductive pleas of 
business to keep them from mingling their prayers and 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 13 

praise, with them that wait upon Him, and steadily 
and regularly, as well through the week as on the 
sabbath, seek religious improvement. In all these 
things God raised him up to be an example to others 
and by them he " being dead yet speaketh." 

As he does also by his enduring memorials. 
These are to be found embalmed in the reminiscences of 
those who enjoyed his acquaintance and friendship, 
and in the various acts and liberal contributions, 
prompted, by his public spirit, and by his attachment 
to the church of God and to the cause of Jesus Christ. 
The voice of rebuke, the word of warning, the urgent 
exhortation, the solemn remonstrance, and the suasive 
appeals made to the ears and consciences and hearts 
of those to whom they were addressed, yet live in 
their memories ; and whether it be, in the privacy of 
the family, among the children for whose spiritual and 
eternal welfare his soul was often sorely burdened, or 
in the walks of social life, or in the endeared inter- 
course of church relations, or, according to the 
promptings of a catholic spirit of more extended fel- 
lowship with christians in other denominations, by 
these and all the other memorials of his love and 
faithfulness, he " being dead yet speaketh." 

We have thus briefly attempted, and felt it to be 
our duty, to give this rapid sketch of the character of 
our deceased friend and brother ; not for the purposes 
of panegyric, or to exalt and honor the man ; for were 
such our design, the lips that death hath sealed, could 
they again be opened, would be the first to administer 
stern rebuke ; but that we may recount to you, belov- 



14 FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

ed friends, the victories of divine grace, and give the 
glory, as he was ever careful to do, to that rich dis- 
tinguishing and sovereign love and mercy of God, 
which changed his heart, and made him to differ from 
his former self as well as from others. 

A short outline of his history will serve still further 
to illustrate and confirm the view we have given of 
his character. 

Mr. Robert Stuart was the son of upright parents, 
who dwelt in Perthshire in the north of Scotland 
where in 1784 he was born, with whom he spent his 
minority, and was educated, according to the usages 
of the Presbyterian church, in its doctrinal belief, and 
in a religious regard for the Sabbath, a reverence for 
the Sacred Scriptures as the word of God, and a re- 
spect for the ministry of that word as a divine ordi- 
nance. It is worthy of particular attention, that in 
the earlier period of his history, long before his heart 
was subdued by the love of Christ, these three things 
operated as habits of action, and threw an influence 
around him, which followed him into the wilderness, 
and forsook him not, throughout all the scenes of an 
eventful life. Although at that time an unconverted 
man, such was the influence of his early education 
and his conviction of the wisdom and necessity of the 
sabbath, that during his journey from the Pacific to 
the Atlantic, he invariably rested on that sacred day, , 
nor suffered his company to do else. And he has often 
been heard to say, when commending the sabbath, 
that mainly owing to that circumstance did he attri- 
bute his rapid and successful transit, in twelve months, 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 15 

from the mouth of the river Oregon to the city of 
New York. 

At the age of twenty-two, being minded to leave 
his parental abode for the East Indies, at the request 
of our worthy and venerable friend and brother, his 
uncle, Mr. David Stuart, then an agent of the North- 
west Company in Lower Canada, he came to Mon- 
treal; but finding, that, ere his arrival, his respected 
relative had gone to the coast of Labrador, he follow- 
ed the counsel he had left for him, and became asso- 
ciated with his friends in connection with the same 
company; and under the tutorage of a Roman Cath- 
olic priest, made himself master of the French lan- 
guage, the better to qualify himself for the commer- 
cial life to which he had devoted himself. 

Subsequently he entered the office of the Attorney 
General of the province, and continued in Canada till 
Mr. John Jacob Astor, having formed the design, of 
establishing trading posts along the Missouri and Co- 
lumbia rivers, and especially, of planting a colonial 
establishment at the mouth of the latter, and of ex- 
tending similar posts along the Pacific coast, organi- 
zed " the Pacific Fur Company," when Mr. Stuart, 
with his uncle, as partners of the firm, sailed in Sep- 
tember, 1810; and having doubled Cape Horn and 
touched at the Sandwich Islands, reached the place 
of destination, and aided in laying the foundation of 
a city in the remote northwest, which has since be- 
come, connected with the public history, and well 
known to the people of the United States ; the perils 
and disasters of which enterprise have been recorded 



16 FUNERAL DISCOURSE, 

by the pen of our honored and gifted countryman, 
the author of Astoria, 

We refer to but one circumstance, in this period of 
his life, and that, because it affords an illustration of the 
kind and watchful care of the providence of that God 
of whom he then was ignorant, but whose designs of 
mercy guarded him ; and because it subsequently af- 
forded to his own grateful conviction of its truth, the 
verification in himself of that wonderful restraining 
grace which He extends, as He did to Ephraim, to 
those whom He intends to subdue to Himself. "I 
taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms 
but they knew not that I healed them." Hos. xi. 3. 

Soon after their arrival at Astoria, it was arranged 
that the " Tonquin," the vessel which carried him out, 
should coast toward the north, and having traded for 
peltry at the different harbors, touch at Astoria on 
her return home in the autumn. Mr. Stuart was to 
form one of the company on board, and had his bag- 
gage already on the quay to embark, when some differ- 
ence having occurred between him and the captain, 
he ordered it back to the factory, refused to sail with 
him, and gave place to another. She sailed on the 
5th of June, 1811, with a company of twenty-three, 
including crew, and in a few days arrived at Vancou- 
ver's Island, and anchored in the harbor of Neweetee. 
Through the petulance and obstinacy of the captain, 
the wrath of the savages, who came to trade with 
them, was quickly and powerfully excited. He had 
neglected the instructions given on the subject of ad- 
mitting them on board, and though warned by the 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 17 

interpreter, and besought by the partner, who had 
taken Mr. Stuart's place, to weigh anchor and speed- 
ily to sail from the place, he replied by pointing to 
his guns. The result was, that the Indians in large 
numbers, having been admitted on deck ; having car- 
ried on a deceitful trade, till they had all armed them- 
selves with knives thus purchased ; and having distri- 
buted themselves conveniently, at a signal given,, 
uttered the savage yell, and rushed, each one upon his 
marked victim. A bloody engagement followed, till 
the savages withdrew from the ship leaving but five 
of the company alive, who had retreated and fortified 
themselves in the cabin. Four of these left the ship 
in the life boat, but falling into the hands of the sava- 
ges suffered a protracted and torturing death. One 
wounded man alone remained on the vessel, medita- 
ting revenge. The savages next day returned in im- 
mense numbers for pillage, when the only survivor of 
the company seizing his opportunity and setting fire to 
the magazine, blew up himself and ship and Indians 
with a tremendous explosion. The providence of 
God, who foresees all things, preserved Mr. Stuart, 
when he knew it not, from perishing with this unfor- 
tunate crew. 

The loss of this vessel, and other causes, rendered 
it necessary for the colony to send an expedition by 
land, which was confided to him ; who started with 
six others, and having, through a dreary and painful 
journey, traversed the vast howling wilderness, amid 
perils and privations surpassing the wildest scenes 
of romance, arrived in twelve months thereafter in 



18 FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

the city of New York. The war with Great Britain at 
that time existing, and the blockade of that city and 
of the whole Atlantic coast, frustrated the enterprise 
at Astoria and threw Mr. Stuart into different scenes. 

Having been united in marriage with our beloved 
sister, who now mourns her irreparable loss ; and 
having formed new business relations, he removed in 
1817 to the island of Mackinaw ; where, for eighteen 
years he engaged in conducting the commercial en- 
terprise of the American Fur Company, then prose- 
cuting an extensive trade with the aborigines of our 
forests, from the Lakes to the Rocky Mountains. 

The firmness of his natural disposition, which had 
not been mellowed by the grace of God ; his stern- 
ness, decision and energy j and the degraded charac- 
ter of most of the Indians and voyageurs and coureurs 
des bois, with whom he was constantly brought in 
contact j and withal his native sense of justice, honor 
and integrity, rendered him efficient and invaluable 
as a business man, and gave him a name and influence 
that commanded general respect and awe. Of the 
religion which has its seat in the heart, and com- 
mences in the regeneration of the man, he had no ex- 
perimental knowledge. As a lofty man of the world 
he cared not to seek it; but rather disdained it, re- 
garding it either as a proof of weakness of charac- 
ter, or as the merest enthusiasm. Nevertheless, 
educated as he had been in the forms and doctrines 
of the church of Scotland, he honored and valued 
the ordinances and rites of christian worship, as pre- 
served and practised in their simplicity by his ances- 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 19 

tors and countoymen. His religion, however, like 
that of multitudes, if not of most who have never been 
renewed in heart by the Spirit of God, and who live 
after the fashion and manners of the world, was 
wholly ritual. Its elements were, external morality, 
doctrinal orthodoxy, prevalent convictions of the 
truth of Christianity as a system of valuable ethics, 
historical faith, demonstrations of respect for its in- 
stitutions and consistent professors, and conformity 
to its general ritual. 

There were, however, at that time on the island no 
religious persons or institutions of the protestant 
character, which only he had been wont to respect. 
But like Manoah, who valued the ordinances of di- 
vine worship, and sought to have a man of God "to 
teach (him) what to do unto the child that should be 
born," he procured, through the aid of the United 
Foreign Missionary Society, a minister of the Dutch 
Reformed church, to labor as teacher of the youth 
and preacher of the gospel, among a population 
reckless and wild, and wholly devoid of the fear of 
God in their hearts. After the example of the great 
woman of Shunem — who said to her husband con- 
cerning Elisha, "I perceive that this is an holy man 
of God, which passeth by us continually, let us make 
I pray thee a little chamber on the wall, and let us 
set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and 
a candlestick, and it shall be when he cometh to us 
he shall tura in hither," n Kings, iv, 8,-9, he took 
the minister of Christ to his own house, and welcom- 
ed him in it as one of his household. But being a 



20 FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

man of the world, and devoted to business, strongly 
characterised by the bold and lofty spirit of the High- 
lander, and familiar with the gorgeous scenes of the 
hospitable tables of "the mighty north-westers," who, 
in the feudal state of Fort William, imitated the old 
feasts in Highland castles, the minister of God was 
denied all other influence than what was conceded to 
him on the Sabbath, on which day only of the seven, 
was he allowed to gather the family for domestic 
worship. The wisdom, prudence and fidelity of this 
man of God, quietly and conscientiously discharging 
his duty, without ostentatious intermeddling and sanc- 
timonious dictation, gradually made its impression. 
Mr. Stuart became the friend and advocate of tem- 
perance and every measure of reform, especially for 
the welfare of the Indian tribes, and cheerfully assu- 
med much of the labor incident to the subsequent 
establishment of the Mackinaw mission, under the care 
of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
Missions, after that the United Foreign Missionary 
Society relinquished its stations to them. How much 
his services in these respects was prized, may be in- 
ferred from the honor conferred upon him by the 
Dutch Reformed Church for the kindness he had 
shown to their missionary. 

God blessed the labors of his missionary servant, 
and in process of time poured out his Spirit upon the 
mission. The humbler class were first converted, 
the men of lofty mien stood aloof, and fortified them- 
selves against the power of the truth. For a time 
Mr. Stuart was of their number. But the stout 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 21 

hearts, in the progress of that gracious work, began 
to relent; and, what deserves particular notice, the 
men that like him, had welcomed the minister of God, 
and rallied cordially to his support, and who, in this 
respect both honored God and His ordinance, although 
at first ignorant of divine grace, were themselves 
honored by being made partakers of His grace, and 
their families being preserved, while those that re- 
jected and despised the minister . of God and his 
preaching, were left unblessed, and their families, be- 
coming the victims of dissipation, were scattered. 

During a season of special divine influence in 1828, 
with which that missionary station was favored, the 
Spirit of God gave power to His preached gospel and 
convinced Mr. Stuart of "sin and righteousness and 
judgment." He felt that something more than ritual 
holiness was needed in order to become a true chris- 
tian. It was a fearful struggle, which, as in the mo- 
ments of christian communion he has related to me, 
then commenced between the pride of his natural heart 
and an awakened and guilty conscience, i He saw the 
enmity of his heart against God, and was overwhelm- 
ed by the view of his inward, deep and total depravi- 
ty. He felt that he had all his life abused the mercy 
of God and been rebellious against Him. He owned 
the justice of that sentence of God's righteous law, 
which condemned him to eternal death. He saw 
that he had no plea to make but that of guilt, that 
his life had been wholly selfish, uninfluenced by any 
supreme regard for the honor and glory of God, and 

that he lay at the feet of his adorable sovereignty 
4 



22 FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

helpless, hopeless, ruined forever, if God, for Christ's 
sake, did not extend mercy to him. The offers of 
that mercy through Jesus Christ, though once so 
mortifying and humiliating to his pride, he gratefully 
accepted. The truth and Spirit of God prevailed, 
and the lion became a lamb. Prostrate at the feet 
of Jesus Christ, he renounced his selfishness and sin *, 
and, in the deep fiowings of repentance, cordially ac- 
cepting pardoning mercy through His atoning blood, 
he consecrated himself to God for time and for eter- 
nity, to be his servant to serve him faithfully, what- 
ever others might think or say or do. Thenceforth 
the cause of God became the object of his highest at- 
tachment. The labor of his hands, the contributions 
of his purse, were ever ready to advance its interests. 
The worship of God he established in his house ; and 
the Sabbath was wholly devoted to the interests of 
religion, in his own soul and in his family, in the 
Sunday school and in the church. Although exposed 
to the influence of much worldly company, and thrown 
of necessity into the society of the gay and the lovers 
of wine and strong drink, he became the decided, 
zealous and consistent advocate of temperance, prac- 
tising and urging total abstinence from all intoxicat- 
ing drinks. The poor neglected and desolate Indians 
awaked his sympathies. They were amazed at the 
change they saw and thenceforth honored and loved 
him as a father. 

The zealous friend and advocate of liberty, he felt 
keenly the oppression practised on the slave, and 
ever took especial delight in teaching and helping in 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 23 

every way the poor fugitives that fled for freedom. 
And while opposed to all partisan, unconstitutional, 
and factious methods to rid the country of the awful 
curse of slavery, he firmly and warmly testified against 
the evils and sms of this wretched system of oppres- 
sion. He was ever ready to give counsel to those 
that were in distress whatever their grade and condi- 
tion in life. His charity extended beyond the com- 
munion of his own church. His heart and hand were 
ever open to aid and encourage those whom he be- 
lieved to be embarked in a good cause. 

In 1835 he removed to this city, and in 1837 was 
elected and installed ruling elder in this church. You 
have known his going out and coming in ; and his 
history among you needs not to be detailed. The 
circumstances of his decease were as strongly marked 
as were the great outlines of his life. He was trans- 
lated without having been made to taste the pains of 
death. After a week of especial enjoyment in do- 
mestic and religious scenes, and without the least 
apprehension of disease approaching, he retired, on 
Saturday night, to rest at a late hour. Sleep not in- 
vading his frame, and restlessness coming on, he rose 
on the morning of the Sabbath very early, and seated 
himself in his chair before the fire. Shortly after 
his afflicted widow waking, rose and approached him. 
Supposing him to be asleep she sought to rouse him, 
but it was the sleep of death. " Blessed are the pure 
in heart." The hour of his blessedness had come and 
he ceased to be with us. 



24 FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

With us ! We wrong thee by the earthly thought ; 

Could our found gaze but follow where thou art, 
Well might the glories of this world seem naught, 

To the one promise given the pure in heart. 

Yet wert thou blest e'en here — oh ! ever blest 
In thine own sunny thoughts and tranquil faith ; 

The silent joy that still o'erfiowed thy breast, ; 
Needed but guarding from all change by death. 



Farewell ! thy life hath left surviving love 

A wealth of records and sweet " feelings given," 

From sorrow's heart the faintness to remove 

By whispers breathing " less of earth than heaven." 

Thus rests thy spirit still on those with whom 

Thy step the path of joyous duty trod, 
Bidding them make an altar of thy tomb 

Where chastened thought may offer praise to God. 

My audience will excuse me for the demand I have 
made upon their attention and time. I should have 
done injustice to my own, and I believe the feelings 
of this church and community to have said less. My 
object has been to expose to your view what the grace 
of God can do, in making him to lead the life of a 
faithful christian, who truly and fully consecrates him- 
self to Him, and in reliance on his precious word goes 
forward promptly, habitually, and conscientiously to 
discharge his duty toward God and toward man. The 
same grace, that was mighty in him through the faith 
he reposed in the blood and righteousness and pro- 
mise of Jesus Christ, may be as efficacious in you be- 
loved hearer. Your heart will not and can not find 
rest and enjoyment till it confides in Jesus Christ ; — 
your life will not be thoroughly reformed, and your 
obedience acceptable to God, till you are born again. 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 25 

No mere change of purpose will graciously reform 
your character, unless renewed by the Spirit of God 
into the image of Jesus Christ. Your purposes and 
promises, your repentings and resolutions, will all 
prove unavailing, till you are united by faith to Jesus 
Christ, and washed and justified and sanctified in His 
name and by the Spirit of our God. Your hopes are 
all baseless and vain, unless they are founded on the 
sure word and promise of a covenant keeping God. 
Your religion will be all selfish, and unacceptable with 
Him, unless God in Christ and His glory, be the great 
objects of your choice, your preference and pursuit, 
and you prosecute them above all rival and opposing 
interests and claims. These things, though dead, our 
departed friend yet speaketh. I beseech you so to 
hearken to the warning voice, that you may make your 
peace with God, and be found in Christ, prepared for 
the summons of death, which may, for ought you can 
tell, come to you as suddenly as it did to him. 

To his bereaved family I have naught to add, to my 
private counsel, but my prayer, that his mantle may 
fall upon his sons. Beloved youth : How aggravated 
will be your condemnation, if, with his example before 
you, you should fail to follow in his steps ! Has God 
found it fitting to speak by bereavement, as He never 
spoke before, and by his death give point, solemnity, 
and enduring power to admonitions unheeded and for- 
gotten ? See to it, that His voice in this chastisement, 
be not neglected, but that, if it were possible to increase 
your father's joy in heaven, it be done, by your cordial 
acknowledgment and faithful service of that God and 



26 FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

Saviour, whom he delighted to honor and who has so 
signally honored him. 

To my fellow citizens I would say — see what a 
blessed thing it is to be a faithful christian — a true 
servant of Jesus Christ ! If any of you have not learn- 
ed to value His service for itself, be persuaded to es- 
timate it by its end. The honors you pay to his 
memory — the testimonies to his worth you hear on 
every side — the tribute of respect, so universally paid, 
by the population of two great cities, are the award, 
which God in His providence has secured for his faith- 
ful servant. It was by faith he obtained witness that he 
was righteous. See to it that ye have like precious 
faith. How blessed to have God to say to you, as he 
did to him, " Thou hast found grace in my sight !" 
Be it yours to live, so as to please God, and death can 
never take you at fault. Come suddenly, without 
warning, or slowly, with full notice of his approach, 
if found in Christ, all will be well. Dying will be but 
going home — passing from a vale of tears to a world 
of delight — -escaping from earth to Heaven. 

To the officers and members of this church, I would 
affectionately say. It is the first breach that God has 
made in our eldership for thirteen years. He has 
smitten down a captain of the host. There is mean- 
ing in the deed. On you, the officers that remain, He 
has rolled increased responsibility. He expects much 
from every one of you, and has sounded the loud note 
of warning " prepare to follow." " What thy hand 
findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no 
work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 27 

grave to which we haste." Be ensamples to the flock, 
and take the oversight thereof willingly and not grudg- 
ingly. Your office is not one of human institution, but 
of divine appointment. You have not merely covenant- 
ed with this people, but with God, that you will serve 
Him faithfully. What manner of persons then ought 
you to be, in all holy conversation and godliness, look- 
ing for and hasting unto the coming of the great day 
of God. May God grant you grace to be faithful, 
that you may receive the " crown of righteousness 
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give at that 
day unto all them that love his appearing." 

On you too, members of this church, He has laid 
increased obligations. You see what grac*e can do. 
You see what it is to be a firm, consistent, decided, 
faithful christian. You see also what the precious 
doctrines of the cross, and the faith that clings to Je- 
sus Christ, and trusts wholly and fully to Him for ac- 
ceptance with God, and pleads no merit of its own, 
can accomplish, and how blessed are they that main- 
tain their faith and service to the end. How unrea- 
sonable, how guilty, and dangerous, for any one either 
to quit the service of God or serve him feigned ly, de- 
jectedly, or but in part ! Oh, the treacherous folly of 
such apostacy ! It is to cast reproach upon Christ 
and his service — an iniquity the greatness of which 
we can not estimate ! See to it, beloved friends, that 
your hearts are right with God. He speaks in solemn 
tones to each and every one. Let not the world en- 
gross your thoughts. Be not absorbed in its business. 
See to it that its cares, its wealth, its honors, seduce 



28 FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

you not, nor neutralize your christain profession. 
Baulk not in the service of Jesus Christ. Grudge not 
what He requires. Delight to do His will. Devote 
yourselves to His glory. Make it the supreme and 
steady object of your pursuit. Live for Him. Let 
Him be the charm of your life, and you will not, need 
not, fear to die. Death will be infinitely greater gain, 
than all the fortunes you can amass or honors you 
can win. The time, the way, the circumstances, of 
your death may safely be left in His hands. Why 
should we perplex ourselves about them ? Only see 
to it that you are, and live, in readiness for it. If ever 
an admonition came, with solemn point and power, it 
is the death we all lament. Its voice proclaims with 
awful emphasis, " Be ye also ready, for ye know not 
the day nor the hour when the Son of Man cometh " 

God call'd him home. 
And he, of whom I speak, stood up alone, a 

And in his firm fidelity wrought on 
Until his master call'd him. 

Oh, is it not a noble thing to die 
As dies the Christian with his armor on ? 
What is the hero's clarion, though its blast 
Ring with the mastery of a world, to this ? 
What are the searching victories of mind — 
The lore of vanished ages ? "What are all 
The trumpetings of proud humanity, 
To the short history of him who made 
His sepulchre beside the King of Kings ? 



